Biography

Maurizio Zazzi, MSc, is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Siena, Italy.

Dr. Zazzi graduated in Biological Sciences and later obtained a Master's degree in Microbiology and Virology at the University of Siena, Italy. At the Department of Molecular Biology of the same university he has continuously worked on the development of molecular assays for viral diagnostics, particularly in the HIV field. He has been leading a dedicated HIV unit since the early nineties, focusing his efforts on antiretroviral resistance, taking part in clinical studies and designing and performing retrospective studies aimed at defining the in vivo role of different HIV mutations, the analysis of HIV evolution and compartmentalization of different variants under drug pressure.

He is currently coordinating the Antiviral Response Cohort Analysis, a nation-wide Italian HIV resistance data repository, and is a founding member of the EuResist group, an international effort aimed at optimizing treatment of drug-resistant HIV through statistical learning methods applied to HIV resistance centered databases. In the latest years, he has expanded his activity to preclinical drug development by collaborating with biochemistry and medicinal chemistry experts.

Dr. Zazzi has been a member of several research groups and scientific societies and a consultant for drug and diagnostics companies. He has been author or coauthor of around 200 papers published in the main virology and infectious diseases journals and mostly focusing on HIV.